any gourami can go in a betta bowl

[TKOS]

From my experience:

My betta does hang out near the top of his tank most of the day and takes gulps of air.

My dwarf gouramis rarely hang out near the top of thier tank and take breathes of air.

Is one type more willing to use the lab. organ? I don't know.

 

[dethjam316]

thanks for a response, tkos. behavioral traits, eh. interesting. my dwarves (gave them to my dad, left them in nj) used the whole tank, but did primarily hang out at the top.

i'm surprised and disappointed this thread didn't attract more responses. oh well, guess we don't have too many critical thinkers on here like you, hans!

 

[yonderway]

Originally posted by dethjam316
there is an established convention that bettas are the *only* fish "okay" for a bowl, whether you agree with it or not. i personally don't, but that is immaterial to the question at hand.

So then what's this "goldfish bowl" thingy I keep hearing so much about?

 

[TKOS]

I believe he means that amoungst fish keeps it is an established idea that bettas are the only fish suitable for small tanks. Only places that sell fish would ever tell you it is a good idea to keep a goldfish in a bowl.

 

[alphabetta]

Maybe the reason that Bettas and not gouramis are deemed "ok" to keep in a bowl is because male bettas won't tolerate other males in with them. Pet stores tell you its ok to put them in teeny tiny bowls, because that is the only way the pet store can keep them. And so the public at large generally accepts that OK bettas can go in bowls.

While I dont know much if anything about gouramis, I think the males don't have to be kept seperate and so then they can all be thrown in one big o tank together. So theres no percieved need to put them in little bowls.

Just a thought.

 

[yonderway]

Originally posted by alphabetta
Maybe the reason that Bettas and not gouramis are deemed "ok" to keep in a bowl is because male bettas won't tolerate other males in with them.

So lets start putting male festae's in 10 gallon tanks.

While I dont know much if anything about gouramis, I think the males don't have to be kept seperate and so then they can all be thrown in one big o tank together. So theres no percieved need to put them in little bowls.

I've had some problems keeping male gouramis together. Sometimes you can get away with it. But the dwarf species seem to be pretty intolerant. Oh, they get along at the pet shop in overcrowded conditions. But try keeping a male dwarf in a tank for a few days and then add a second.

 

[alphabetta]

Wow..thanks for pickin apart my post ...:sad

Told ya I didnt know anything about gouramis, only know when I go to the fish store I see all kinds of them swiming together and none labeled by sex.

And wtf is a festae? As for male bettas in 10 gal tanks at pet stores...I'm all for it. But I'm not the one you have to convince of this.

 

[PumaWard]

I never said it was right to put bettas in bowls, deth, all I said was that putting gourami in bowls is wrong .

That aside, let me clarify, if I may. IME, yes, dwarf gourami are more likely to get dropsy than bettas. I really don't think, again IME, that they handle poor water quality as well as bettas (don't take it that I am saying that they should be kept in poor water). That, coupled with low water temperatures, will make them all the more likely to get dropsy.

I also might add that dwarf gourami get larger than bettas (fins aside).

Finally, all I was getting at is that just because a fish has a labyrinth doesn't mean it should live in a pet carrier on your desk, be it a 2.5'' betta or a 2' snakehead...

 

[daveedka]

Hans, I have pondered this as well, just because it makes sense in some respect or another That beatta's and Gourami's could live in similar environments. The size factor of course could be dealt with by equal ratio's of water( gallons per inch). I am not suggesting you try it at the expense of a gourami. Also, I have a 7 gallon fish bowl that I kept a comet in when I was a kid ( Don't yell, I won him at the fair, and din't know any different 20 years ago). to me this would be a better home than a 5 gallon aquarium. Since I don't keep beatta's and don't advocate keeping fish without a filter, what size fish bowls do people typiclly keep a beatta in. I have seen what they are kept in at the LFS, but never imagined anyone would keep them in a shot glass once they got them home

I have been following this thread for the last few days and am trying to think of a humane way to test test this idea. can't think of one, but If I do I'll let you in on it.

Deth, thanks for trying to keep the focus on this one, seems like a lot of people don't read the threads before they respond.

 

[dethjam316]

yeah daveedka, i'm just so tired of those bettas in a bowl is cruel threads...the worst ones are the ones with online petitions. pleaaaase. enough already.

alpha-- i think you may be on to something...the fact that males cannot be kept together forces the keeping of them in smaller quarters in shops and among breeders. these kinds of setups would then undoubtedly follow into the home hobbyist's fishkeeping practice. this is perhaps a prime reason bettas are kept in small tanks. i like this idea. yes, other gouramis fight, too, but none have the reputation of betta splendens. this, more than any other idea so far, i think begins to explain why it's considered okay for bettas to be kept in small tanks and not other small labyrinth fish.

yonder-- no good hobbyist would recommend a goldfish for a 1g bowl. many have recommended bettas. end of argument there.

i guess there isn't a way to test this that wouldn't be risking the life of a dwarf gourami. puma seems to think that they are more susceptible to dropsy and other conditions via poor tank conditions and temperature, and this may well be true, but there really is no way to test this without trying it. i'm not sure this is so, however. as i said earlier, most sites seem to suggest dwarves can tolerate cooler temps than bettas. also, i've had that quarrantined blue gourami (as mentioned earlier) in an unheated eclipse and it appears as healthy as ever (minus the parasite that landed it there in the first place that won't go away, of course)...

i'm theorizing that one could keep a dwarf in a bowl as successfully as one could keep a betta. yes, temperature must be above 70 (minimum). yes, frequent water changes are necessary to maintain fairly clean water. but this is the case for a reasonably healthy betta, as well, so i can't buy that dwarves are significantly more susceptible than bettas. i'm certainly open to convincing, but that's my hypothesis for now.